Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. - Mary Jean Iron

Saturday, October 18, 2008


So I bet at least a few of you remember last year when a good friend of ours from Arlee, MT gave us boxes and boxes of delicious plums, fresh from his backyard. After a brief panic at the thought of hundreds of ripening plums waiting in our kitchen, I decided to take on the task of making some homemade prunes with our new dryer. Though the taste of fresh prunes for the next 4 months may have been worth it, the monotony of pitting combined with 10 very raw, cut up fingers were enough to make that a one time show. 

This year I tackled a new challenge. On one of our Saturday Market trips I happened by a booth where an old woman was selling jam. She had a little bit of everything: Strawberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, Huckleberry, Strawberry Huckleberry, Huckleberry Thimble Berry Peach, etc. The sad part is that each small jar is quadruple the price I pay for regular jam at Orange Street, so I had a couple samples (probably one or two too many) and left. 

When I walked into our kitchen and smelled the overripe plums, well, I met my challenge. 



1 comment:

Beth said...

Impressive Maggie! I did my first "jamming" last year and plan on tackling the task again soon, it's so hard not to take advantage of all the free fruit up here! :)